Tim Paul

Tim Paul was born in 1950 in the isolated village of Esperanza Inlet, north of Tofino, on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. He began carving in 1975 under the direction of Ben Andrews and later with John Livingston at the Arts of the Raven Studio in Victoria, BC. He accepted the position of Assistant Carver to Richard Hunt at the Thunderbird Park at the Royal British Columbia Museum in 1977 and, seven years later, he became the first carver outside of the Hunt family to hold the position of senior carver. He held this position until 1992, when he left to oversee a Native education program for Vancouver Island.

During his time with the museum, he accepted and initiated many prestigious totem pole commissions including the Great Hall of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec and in Auckland, New Zealand as a presentation to commemorate the 1990 Commonwealth Games. In addition to these successes, Tim Paul also worked as the Chief Carver on projects for Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in England.

Tim has been asked to make ceremonial pieces and cultural commissions throughout his career. He has also honoured traditional guidelines for making pieces that would represent the Nuu chah nulth people around the world.